Against a Dark Background
by Iain Banks · first published 1993
56% recommend41% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Grim, non-Culture Banks sci-fi: a heist/road-movie adventure in a system with no FTL, where growth is capped and humanity is stuck. Suits Culture fans wanting something darker; rereads reveal existential horror.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilization based around the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz, a religious cult which believes that she is the last obstacle before the faith's apotheosis, and her only hope of escape is to find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz find her.Her journey through the exotic Golterian system is a destructive and savage odyssey into her past, and that of her family and of the system itself.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2008–2026Feersum endjinn
Iain Banks
Recommended by 15 · mentioned by 3315 recommend · 33 mention15 recommend · 3315 recommend
2008–2026Consider Phlebas
Iain Banks
Recommended by 69 · mentioned by 17569 recommend · 175 mention69 recommend · 17569 recommend
2012–2026The Hydrogen Sonata
Iain Banks
Recommended by 10 · mentioned by 2610 recommend · 26 mention10 recommend · 2610 recommend
2007–2026Use of Weapons
Iain Banks
Recommended by 78 · mentioned by 12278 recommend · 122 mention78 recommend · 12278 recommend
2009–2026The Wasp Factory
Iain Banks
Recommended by 25 · mentioned by 3825 recommend · 38 mention25 recommend · 3825 recommend
2008–2026The player of games
Iain Banks
Recommended by 114 · mentioned by 194114 recommend · 194 mention114 recommend · 194114 recommend
2010–2026Look to windward
Iain Banks
Recommended by 31 · mentioned by 5531 recommend · 55 mention31 recommend · 5531 recommend
2011–2026Excession
Iain Banks
Recommended by 8 · mentioned by 158 recommend · 15 mention8 recommend · 158 recommend
…dead people, and you may want to give it a try. Alfred Hayes, In Love. A story of a man obsessed by love in a mid-century NYC. Unexpectedly touching, very convincing psychologically. Iain M. Banks, Against a Dark Background. SF, a grand heist novel set in a advanced civilization living in a star system located unimaginably far away from any other stars and galaxies, and so doomed to a lone struggle with its own long history.…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗…dark, cynical place. His short story The Extra[1] is probably the best example. If you like The Extra, you'll probably enjoy Blindsight by Peter Watts[2]. Some of the late Ian M. Banks titles fit as well: Against a Dark Background and Matter are both grim, somewhat hard sci-fi. If you're a fan of Greg Egan, you'll likely enjoy Ted Chiang[3]. He doesn't write much, but he writes well. 1. http://eidolon.net/?story=The%20Extra 2.…
on “Foundations by Greg Egan (1998)” ↗Iain Banks's "Against A Dark Background"?
on “First pictures from Euclid satellite reveal billions of orphan stars” ↗I didn’t mind Consider Phlebas, but I found Excession, Player of Games, The Algebraist and Surface Detail to be more interesting. Against a Dark Background was also good although strictly not a Culture book. Other sci-fi I have enjoyed which has a very different feel: Dune (amazing), The Diamond Age (also amazing), Ancillary Justice (pretty good). Thanks…
on “The Culture War: Iain M. Banks’s Billionaire Fans” ↗https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_a_Dark_Background Paints a bleak picture of a civilization in this situation. Great book though.
on “Biggest void in space is 1B light years across (2007)” ↗It would be nice, and is certainly the result I hope for (with all the good wishes do), as I'm not sure we will work very well with slow and expensive growth. Reading 'Against a Dark Background' was certainly interesting as it considers a system which essentially has its growth capped by the distance between itself and the rest of the universe.
on “Where are the Voyagers?” ↗I love the Culture books, but don't count out The Algebraist (possibly my favorite of Banks's books) or Against a Dark Background.
on “Australian footage of Neil Armstrong's moon walk” ↗Typo: should be "Iain M Banks" I also enjoy his culture novels. His non-culture "Against a Dark Background" is also excellent.
on “Cause & Effect” ↗…scarcity existence, especially when advanced AI can just run and do everything. Outside of the Culture series, I also highly recommend the Algebraist and Feersum Endjinn (sp?). edit: I forgot to include "Against a Dark Background" in the outside Culture series recommendations. I've read that one a few times, it's quite good. At one point there was talk about making it into a movie, but I haven't heard anything about that in…
on “Sci-Fi Author Iain M. Banks Gets Asteroid Named after Him” ↗I read _Against A Dark Background_ as a teen an thought of it as a pretty fun sf, almost space-opera adventure story. Then I read it again as an adult and... wow. Bank's SF work is very good, but the quiet existential horror that lurks…
on “Where are the Voyagers?” ↗You should check out the Iain M. Banks novel, Against a Dark Background. It's set outside of his Culture Universe, in a planetary system orbiting an intergalactic star. There is no FTL so humanity is effectively trapped. I wish that Banks had expanded on the idea with further…
on “Gaia spots stars flying between galaxies” ↗You might want to try out Against a Dark Background, and The Algebraist. They're part of his non-Culture novels. Against a Dark Background is The Culture without advanced AIs or intergalactic space travel. It's essentially a heist/chase novel about a…
on “The Culture War: Iain M. Banks’s Billionaire Fans” ↗Yeh, I guess that's a fair take. But re-reading it and _Against a Dark Background_ (not even tangentially a Culture book I know) tweaked my nostalgia a bit and I found I quite enjoyed them in ways I didn't first time around.
on “Why the Culture Wins: An Appreciation of Iain M. Banks (2017; by Joseph Heath)” ↗…more Culture books, I recently started going through his other fiction and they're all really fun and scratch a similar itch. I read Feersum Endjinn and The Algebraist, and I'm most of the way through Against a Dark Background now, and they're all great (and quite different from The Culture and each other)
on “The Age of Reading Is Over” ↗Reminds me I need to read “Against a Dark Background” again - similar theme!
on “Nightfall: Can Kalgash Exist (2014)” ↗